Compete Like a Champion

Too often emotion is seen as weakness, making someone vulnerable, or just plain bad. In this episode the team talks about the reality of where emotions come from and their function. The concept of emotional strength (or toughness) is detailed with examples and practical suggestions are discussed for the recreational tennis player to the touring tennis player looking to take advantage of their emotions and not let their emotions control them. A must listen for any player that struggles with managing emotions and performing under pressure.

Episode Transcript: https://go.aws/2NNBXEj 

Twitter:

• Dr. Larry Lauer - @LarryLauer
• Coach Parkes - @johnnyparkes1

Instagram:

• Team USA Tennis - @teamusatennis
• Coach Parkes - @johnny_parkes

Dr. L and Coach Johnny talk about the misconceptions of the idea of "old school coaching" in the wake of NHL coaches being fired for misconduct. This episode will draw you into teaching best practices and those practices that coaches still do that are not effective, specifically in tennis. The philosophy of player or athlete-centered coaching vs. coach-centered coaching is debated with real world solutions for how to coach players that is individualized to their needs.

Episode Transcript: https://go.aws/2NOGNkJ 

Twitter:

• Dr. Larry Lauer - @LarryLauer
• Coach Parkes - @johnnyparkes1

  Instagram:

• Team USA Tennis - @teamusatennis
• Coach Parkes - @johnny_parkes

Coach Dave Licker of the Lakes Tennis Academy joins Dr. L and Coach Johnny to discuss his high performance junior program. The discussion ranges from the culture needed to develop young tennis players into players that can play Division 1 and professional tennis to ways to coach young players. The connection between junior development and elite collegiate and professional tennis becomes clear as the discussion continues. Recommendations are made for junior coaches in creating their high performance junior tennis program culture.

Episode Transcript: https://go.aws/35UWkWf 

https://www.lakestennis.com/

Instagram:

• Coach Dave Licker - @davemarc10s
• Team USA Tennis - @teamusatennis
• Coach Johnny Parkes - @johnny_parkes

Twitter:

• Coach Dave Licker - @davelicker10s
• Dr. Larry Lauer - @larrylauer
• Coach Johnny Parkes - @johnnyparkes1

Respect is an often talked about quality that tennis coaches look for in players. In this episode we explore how respect must be defined and also how youth and adolescent tennis players may have barriers to exhibiting respect. In addition, Dr. L and Coach Johnny talk about how exhibiting respect is not only demonstrating character but enhances performance.   Episode Transcript: https://go.aws/2QS1n5o    Twitter: Dr. Larry Lauer - @LarryLauer Coach Parkes - @johnnyparkes1   Instagram: Coach Parkes - @johnny_parkes

Irina Falconi, WTA Tour Player and co-host of the Tennis Channel Podcast joins us to discuss her journey from juniors to college to pro, and how her perspective on tennis has evolved over the years. Irina discusses the importance of taking time to recover as well as enjoying the "grind". She makes significant recommendations for parents, players, and coaches on how tennis players can strive for excellence and be happy and healthy

Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2NlmriP 

Twitter:

• Dr. Larry Lauer - @LarryLauer
• Coach Parkes - @johnnyparkes1
• Irina Falconi - @irinafalconi

  Instagram:

• Coach Parkes - @johnny_parkes
• Irina Falconi - @irinafalconi

We have master Athletic Development Coach, Vern Gambetta on the Podcast. Coach Gambetta runs the GAIN Network and talks about his role and how he Coaches the Coaches to be better. We talk about how to make athletes better in the training environment as well as his insights into lessons learnt along the coaching journey which is great advice for coaches, parents and players listening.

The team welcomes David Ramos, Performance Analytics Manager at USTA Player Development, to the podcast. The guys talk about the benefits of using data to inform coaches and players, as well as best practices on how to use the information. They also talk about some of the important statistics coaches should be looking at at all levels, and how to communicate the information with players. The future of analytics is discussed and it's impact on how it can build a player's confidence.

In a high performance world the consequences of your decisions are highly scrutinized. In many sports, job stability is not high. The podcast team challenges the notion of work-life balance in high performance sport settings. The pursuit of balance is most likely unrealistic and may have detrimental effects on the well-being of performers. The team not only addresses some of the concerns they experience, but strategies that are being used in the high performance world to manage time.

The word perfect often comes up in the language of coaching. Perfect practice leads to greater performance and other such myths exist in the world of sport. Is the pursuit of perfection actually slowing down development of players and adversely affecting their belief and focus? In this episode the guys dig deep into the concept of perfect and how tennis is a messy, imperfect world. Ways to help perfectionists deal with unrealistic ideas of performance are explored as well as the roots of perfectionism.

Dr. L and Coach Johnny tackle the much discussed, misunderstood phenomenon of cheating in junior tennis. Is cheating rampant and if so, why? What should players do about it? Some of the ways players attempt to deal with cheating are discussed, as well as how it might all be in your head anyway. Conventional ideas such as cheating a cheater back are refuted and a new way of looking at and dealing with perceived cheating is examined.